The European commissioner for humanitarian aid, Emma Bonino, has called for the establishment of an international military presence in Kosovo to protect the tens-of-thousands of Albanians there forced from their homes by Serb military action.

She said an estimated quarter-of-a-million people were displaced within Kosovo and they needed a safe haven to survive.

Mrs Bonino was speaking after visiting Albania and Macedonia, which have borne the brunt of the refugee exodus from Kosovo. Several previous attempts to set up safe havens -- such as at Srebrenica in Bosnia -- failed to provide the protection for civilians that they had promised.